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City News

Posted on: May 14, 2018

Portland’s Public Health Division to Co-Host Community Health Fair

On Thursday, May 17, staff of the Public Health Division will co-host a community health fair with members of Maine Medical Center’s Nursing Professional Excellence Council. This event will take place during National Prevention Week (May 13-19), an annual health observance dedicated to increasing public awareness of, and action around, substance misuse and mental health issues.

“This is a great strategic partnership with the hospital to bring public health and clinical resources to the community, and to people that may not otherwise have access to such resources to improve their health and wellbeing. The health screenings will afford many without health insurance a check-up they may have missed annually,” said Dr. Kolawole Bankole, MD, MS, MBA, Director, Portland Public Health.

The health fair will be held in the Rines Auditorium of the Portland Public Library from 1 PM to 4 PM and will offer a variety of public health resources in the areas of: substance use, tobacco, lead poisoning and overdose prevention, HIV, STD and Viral Hepatitis prevention and obesity prevention. Additionally, attendees will have the opportunity to learn compression-only CPR, a hand hygiene demonstration, skin cancer and diabetes screenings, blood pressure checks and much more!

“It is so important to be able to reach people in a setting where they’re comfortable,” said Leslie Knight, B.S.N., R.N., CMSRN, chair of community outreach in Maine Medical Center’s Nursing Professional Excellence Council. “We want to empower people to take care of their health, and maybe even prevent some from having to go to the hospital. Partnering with the city gives us an opportunity to do just that.”

This event is free and open to the public.

For more information about the event, National Prevention Week or Portland’s Public Health Division, please contact Bridget Rauscher at (207) 874-8798 or bridget.rauscher@portlandmaine.gov.